Marshall University Athletics
Mark Snyder Press Conference Quotes
11/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 18, 2008
Opening statement: It will be our first trip to Rice, we have been to Houston a few times, but they are very explosive on offense as you look at them, they've given up 36 points per game on defense and they are still 7-3. That tells you what kind of offensive output they are having at this point in time. They are very young on defense. Chuck Driesbach (Rice co-defensive coordinator) does a good job with those guys. They are very active, they do a lot of moving. But offensively is where they are making their hay, Chase Clements is playing as well as anyone on that side right now. He is running that offense to perfection. They are going to spread you horizontally and vertically. Jarrett Dillard is one of the best wide outs in the league. He's their deep threat and #12 (James Casey), he's kind of like Superman for them, he's playing everything. Quarterback, tailback, wide out, tight end and he catches everything that comes his way. I'm very impressed with him. They're a good football team, a very explosive football team, we're excited to go play another team on the west side.
On Rice QB Chase Clement and how he compares to the other C-USA QBs: He's just like them, when they're hitting, they're hitting, when they're on, they're on. The thing that impresses me about him, the ball is coming out of his hands before the receivers comes out of their cuts, that's pretty impressive to me. And he's got some escapability, they've got a very nice package. They do some hurry-hurry, personnel substituting, all of those kinds of things, so we're going to have a big challenge in front of us defensively.
On the changes in the C-USA standings over the last few weeks and the differences between the teams on the east and west side: It's a very competitive league. We're just worried about Rice right now. Our number one focus is Rice. We're two different sides as you look at us. Night and day between the two sides for the most part and that's what makes this league very interesting and fun.
On the Marshall defense: The defense is playing pretty well. We felt like because of the west and the east, you heard me say it earlier this year, you need to have the ability to get big when you need get big against UCF or East Carolina, teams of that nature, Southern Miss. You needs to have the ability to put speed on the field against the west and Memphis, we feel like we've been able to do that and that's the reason we're playing pretty good defense right now. We're moving along, we're progressing on offense, as I look at our offense, I think we're running the ball a lot better. We ran the ball, that was the one bright spot offensively, we ran the ball against UCF the other night and our running backs are running hard, I see our young offensive line getting better each week and we that's going to have to continue this week as we go to the west side to play.
On any changes in the Marshall quarterback situation this weekend: No
On why Mark Cann may have taken a few steps back: Anytime you play better teams, it seems like that's been the tendency for him as you look at his bad games, he's been going against good defenses. I think the key for him right now is what we discussed, he has to quit being afraid to make a mistake and go play football, we got our running game going, so that should take a lot of the burden off of him. Darius Passmore is being double teamed right now quite a bit and a lot of his success was going to Darius, so we need to make sure that we improve in other areas there.
On pass rush or pass coverage being more important: We're going to have to get pressure on him. After we get pressure on him, we have to keep in the pocket and you are going to have to have superior coverage.
On Chase Clement's escapability: On that side, he probably has the most escapability. He's not as tall in stature as some of the other guys are. He's a small guy, but makes a lot of plays, finds ways to get the ball into windows, he's a pretty good athlete.
On the focus of the team: It's all about Rice this week.
On a situation similar to UAB, potentially playing in a large stadium with a small crowd: Now we've been through it, so hopefully that will help us a little bit.
On getting good pressure on the quarterback and not letting him escape the pressure: That's going to be a key.
On Rice adjusting to a new coaching staff last season and holding them to 21 points: Towards the end of the year last year defensively, you got a flash into you've been seeing this year. We started to get a little bit healthy and we were not able to get big at that point in time, now we can, so as we face some of the teams that spread the ball around a little bit, it gave us a chance defensively last year.
On potential changes this week: You will see some new looks, personnel wise.
